Christian Living
I believe that God's calling is the will of God for each individual person. It is what you have been uniquely designed to do to further advance the Kingdom of God, using your supernatural gifts given by the Holy Spirit, and taking into account your natural abilities, training, and past experiences, including all of your hurts and emotional baggage that can be used to glorify God and to help others.
Let me break down all of what has been said into easily digestible pieces, using my own life as an example. God's will for me, as with all believers, is to obey the Great Commission, as given in Matthew 28:19-20. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
There are as many ways to accomplish this as there are Christians living. In the case of writing, for example, there is the potential for a message to go throughout the entire world in the form of books. At the same time, the author is using a unique gift and message given by God.
You will find God's general will in Scripture. You will NOT find God's specific will. This is why so many Christians are confused and frustrated when it comes to knowing what God's specific will is. Simply use all of what you have and are to help advance the Kingdom of God. Ask yourself three questions:
1. What do I really, really want to do with my life?
2. How can I maximize my life to honor God and help others?
3. What are my spiritual gifts, natural abilities, training and past experiences?
Your answer to these questions is God's specific will for you, in fulfilling His general will. Consider the following equation:
THE GREAT COMMISSION + DOING WHAT YOU ARE DESIGNED TO DO BY GOD = GOD'S WILL FOR YOUR LIFE.
Writing is my personal example of this. Writing is something I had always received high marks in, ever since middle school. When I went to seminary I loved doing research and writing my masters' thesis. Then I developed a desire to write and publish a book. That desire and goal was met when GOD'S HEALING HOPE was published in 2008. When I wrote that book I had a passion for it. I was doing something I really wanted to do, using my natural abilities and educational training. At the same time, I drew upon past experiences and hurts. I put all of this into a tool that would honor God and minister to other people.
However, the specific will of God also encompasses character development. God is more concerned with character than career, with Godly qualities than with natural abilities, with attitudes than activities, and with your future potential than your failed past. Scripture has much to say specifically about what kind of person He desires for each of us to be.
I have a question: With all this emphasis upon developing Godly qualities and character, why is there sometimes so much attention given to associating God's will with vocation, who to marry, where to go to college, and overall trying to figure out God's will?
While it is true that God at times places people in particular locations or specific types of work for a reason, this is not something that you need to pursue to the point of being frustrated and held back from moving ahead in your life because you can't figure out what His will is.
Do what you want with your life, and as long as your heart is right with God, don't worry whether or not you are in His will. Sometimes I think that when a person prays, asking God to reveal His will, God's response is, "Why are you asking me? It is all in my Word. Just read it and do it. Then take everything that you are and have and use it for my glory and to further my Kingdom. Now, get moving!"
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